CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE We are proposing to support collaboration among PBL in K-12 researchers at different levels - a national and international gathering for AERA attendees accompanied by a shared online resources for worldwide use, a state-wide gathering in Indiana, and local gatherings for independent teams who are geographically co-located but not currently collaborating. Our planning process is transparent and we will welcome ideas for how to make the most of our efforts.
Location and Dates We propose to organize a large meeting of PBL researchers on April 10, 2013 in Atlanta (or one day before the 2013 AERA annual meeting), scheduled to avoid conflict with any other AERA meetings. Leading up to this meeting, starting in early Fall 2012, we propose to have a major regional gathering in Indiana, where there is critical mass of PBL sites and researchers. We will also support (with minimal expense) small local meetings to help catalyze collaboration and contributions from a wider range of perspectives prior to these meetings.
Size and Scope Participation in the conferences will be limited to 30 to increase the quality of interactions. We expect 30 people to attend our international gathering prior to AERA and 30 people to attend the Indiana gathering. There are also 10 people slated to attend a pan-Israel meeting, and several dozen appear ready to participate online or in other small local gatherings. Appendix A shows there are already 67 people with confirmed interest.
Organizers The proposal has been organized by Jason Ravitz, Director of Research at the Buck Institute for Education (BIE), a CA-based non-profit that provides research, products and services to schools, districts and states. He is also Chair of the AERA SIG on Problem Based Education (and a 2011 Outstanding Reviewer for AERJ-TLHD). Jason has been involved in major studies of teaching practices in the US, evaluations of large R&D projects and efforts to improve teaching and learning through the use of PBL. Mary English, a doctoral candidate in Educational Psychology and Learning and Instruction at George Mason University and a Senior Learning Analyst with Booz Allen Hamilton, is assisting him. She is conducting her dissertation on PBL implementation at the classroom level as well as the best practices for supporting student self-regulation in PBL. She has co-authored several publications, and has extensive professional experience in instructional systems design and media. A growing list of others has contributed to ideas in this proposal and has agreed to help provide leadership (Appendix D).
Statement of Objectives The conferences are part of a larger initiative to develop an online collaborative community of PBL researchers for the purpose of improving research methods, sharing ideas, and leveraging resources. The conferences will support the larger initiative by providing a venue for face-to-face networking, extensive dialogue on specific issues, presentations, and sharing of work. The objectives of the main conference are to 1) build on the ideas that started to take shape online; 2) help develop a common way of defining PBL in its various forms; 3) develop a list of research priorities for each topic; 4) develop a list of key methodological issues to be addressed and recommendations when possible; 5) obtain commitments from participants in each team to write specific research articles for publication in IJPBL or in a book; 6) define the way forward for each group and the group as a whole; and 7) explore creating a PBL in K-12 Dissertation Award committee. The local conferences will provide an opportunity for initiating dialogue, organizing the online space and inviting additional contributors into the effort.
We are proposing to support collaboration among PBL in K-12 researchers at different levels - a national and international gathering for AERA attendees accompanied by a shared online resources for worldwide use, a state-wide gathering in Indiana, and local gatherings for independent teams who are geographically co-located but not currently collaborating. Our planning process is transparent and we will welcome ideas for how to make the most of our efforts.
Location and Dates We propose to organize a large meeting of PBL researchers on April 10, 2013 in Atlanta (or one day before the 2013 AERA annual meeting), scheduled to avoid conflict with any other AERA meetings. Leading up to this meeting, starting in early Fall 2012, we propose to have a major regional gathering in Indiana, where there is critical mass of PBL sites and researchers. We will also support (with minimal expense) small local meetings to help catalyze collaboration and contributions from a wider range of perspectives prior to these meetings.
Size and Scope Participation in the conferences will be limited to 30 to increase the quality of interactions. We expect 30 people to attend our international gathering prior to AERA and 30 people to attend the Indiana gathering. There are also 10 people slated to attend a pan-Israel meeting, and several dozen appear ready to participate online or in other small local gatherings. Appendix A shows there are already 67 people with confirmed interest.
Organizers The proposal has been organized by Jason Ravitz, Director of Research at the Buck Institute for Education (BIE), a CA-based non-profit that provides research, products and services to schools, districts and states. He is also Chair of the AERA SIG on Problem Based Education (and a 2011 Outstanding Reviewer for AERJ-TLHD). Jason has been involved in major studies of teaching practices in the US, evaluations of large R&D projects and efforts to improve teaching and learning through the use of PBL. Mary English, a doctoral candidate in Educational Psychology and Learning and Instruction at George Mason University and a Senior Learning Analyst with Booz Allen Hamilton, is assisting him. She is conducting her dissertation on PBL implementation at the classroom level as well as the best practices for supporting student self-regulation in PBL. She has co-authored several publications, and has extensive professional experience in instructional systems design and media. A growing list of others has contributed to ideas in this proposal and has agreed to help provide leadership (Appendix D).
Statement of Objectives The conferences are part of a larger initiative to develop an online collaborative community of PBL researchers for the purpose of improving research methods, sharing ideas, and leveraging resources. The conferences will support the larger initiative by providing a venue for face-to-face networking, extensive dialogue on specific issues, presentations, and sharing of work. The objectives of the main conference are to 1) build on the ideas that started to take shape online; 2) help develop a common way of defining PBL in its various forms; 3) develop a list of research priorities for each topic; 4) develop a list of key methodological issues to be addressed and recommendations when possible; 5) obtain commitments from participants in each team to write specific research articles for publication in IJPBL or in a book; 6) define the way forward for each group and the group as a whole; and 7) explore creating a PBL in K-12 Dissertation Award committee. The local conferences will provide an opportunity for initiating dialogue, organizing the online space and inviting additional contributors into the effort.